Nocturia Associated With Increased Fall Risk

German study revealed a 13% higher risk of falls among patients with vs without nocturia.

PHILADELPHIA—Nocturia is associated with an increased risk for falls and greater expenditure for hospital stays and medications, according to study results presented at the International Continence Society’s 2018 annual meeting.

An analysis of data from 4.85 million people enrolled in the German statutory health insurance system in 2014-2015 found a 13% increased risk of falls among patients with nocturia compared with those who did not have nocturia, investigator Martin C. Michel, MD, of Universitätsmedizin Mainz, told attendees. The proportion of patients with falls was 50.3% and 44.4% among those with and without nocturia, respectively.

Among patients with fall tendency and documented falls (falls leading to a medical diagnosis), the average of number of drug prescriptions for patients with nocturia was 14 for those on micturition-related medications and 11.8 for those who were not. By comparison, patients without nocturia had an average of 9.8 prescriptions. Individuals with documented falls were not older than the general population and did not have more comorbidities, but on average received 1 additional drug, Dr Michel’s team reported.

Falls were associated with a 28% greater expenditure for hospital stay and medications.

“The presence of nocturia is associated with greater health care costs in patients with a tendency to fall,” Dr Michel said. “In terms of polypharmacy, reducing the overall number of drug treatments per person could be an attempt to reduce drug-drug interactions and possibly stabilize persons with fall tendencies.”

Of the 4.85 million individuals in the study population, 157,076 (3.24%) had nocturia. Of 11,695 individuals with a tendency to fall, 5403 had documented falls.